


My Sweet Lullaby

by ghostlyfae (fairynkk)



Category: Oh My Girl (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/F, Fluff, Insomnia, Magic, Magical Realism, ballerina yooa, fairy yooa, insomniac seunghee, jiho/binnie, mentioned hyojung/arin, witch binnie, witch jiho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairynkk/pseuds/ghostlyfae
Summary: seunghee has trouble sleeping, so hyojung gives her a lullaby music box to try to help. it works, seunghee managing to sleep for the first time in weeks, but when she wakes up, the ballerina inside the music box is missing and there's a beautiful girl making tea in her kitchen
Relationships: Hyun Seunghee/Yoo Shiah | YooA
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	My Sweet Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> so i started this months ago and i kinda rushed the end bc i wanted to finish it bc i really like the concept? im not sure where i stand with oh my girl rn,, i love them, but im trying to distance myself because they still havent apologised or learnt from their mistakes... but i wanted to finish this so here it is  
> no mimi or jine in this, they just didnt come up
> 
> i hope u enjoy!

Seunghee groans as her alarm clock rings, smacking it until it turns off. She buries her face in her pillow and lets out a muffled, close-mouthed scream into it. She just wishes she could  _ sleep. _

Dragging herself out of bed, she begins to get ready. Her dull eyes stare back at her from the bathroom mirror, rimmed with dark grey, lifeless. She quickly splashes cold water on her face, as though that would bring the life back to her features. It doesn’t.

“Still can’t sleep?” Hyojung greets her when she trudges into work, feeling a little as though she’s wading through treacle.

Seunghee just makes a noise in response, too tired to form actual words.

She manages to get through work on autopilot, smiling at customers appropriately, just going through the motions. Scan the clothes, remove the tag, in the bag. Beep beep, bitch. She doesn’t notice the concerned looks Hyojung keeps throwing her way. After all, it’s not  _ that _ bad; she’s still functioning.

They take their leave for lunch break together, and Hyojung places a hand on her shoulder once they’re outside, eyes full of worry as she looks at her.

“You know, I have a friend.”

“Oh, wow, congrats.”

“Shut up! Let me finish,” Hyojung huffs, “I have this friend who works at an antiques shop for like, charms and amulets and stuff. Maybe you should check it out, there might be something that helps.”

Seunghee bites back a sarcastic remark and actually considers it. She’s tried everything: pills, music, white noise, hot drinks, melatonin… you name it, nothing has worked. Most charms shops are fakes, magic being very rare these days, but what’s the harm in giving it a shot?

Sighing, she asks, “Where is this shop?”

Hyojung smiles at Seunghee’s easy acceptance and quickly pulls out a mini notepad and pen from her purse, scrawling the name and address on a page and ripping it out to give to Seunghee.

“I really hope it works.” She smiles again before turning and dragging Seunghee to their favourite cafe for lunch.

Once she gets off work at the store, Seunghee decides to stop by the antiques shop before she heads home. It looks just like any other, ordinary shop from the outside, sandwiched between a carpet shop and a takeaway place. The sign is written in cursive english font that reads ‘ _ A Touch of Magic.’  _ A bell chimes as Seunghee pushes open the door and steps inside.

The inside comprises two rooms, one of which is hidden behind a curtain of beads hanging in the doorway. In the main room, various ornaments and jewellery and such line the shelves. She looks around for a short while, but quickly realises she has no idea what she’s looking for.

“Excuse me,” she says when she finds who she presumes is the store owner; a young woman, tall and slim, with piercing feline eyes and a curtain of pin-straight black hair. Seunghee gulps. She’s beautiful but rather intimidating too. However, she quickly smiles when she notices Seunghee, her aura completely changing -- brightening.

“Hello, how may I help you?” she asks politely.

Seunghee bites her lip. “Um, well, my friend told me about this place and I, um…” She struggles to formulate a sentence, suddenly nervous for some reason, unsure of herself.

“You need something to help you sleep,” the shop owner states.

Seunghee’s eyes widen. “How did you know that?”

The woman smiles. “I can see it. I can sense it.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, I’m sure we have just the thing for you, wait just one moment.” She turns towards the covered doorway and calls, “Binnie!” 

Another woman appears through the doorway, the beads jangling as she brushes them aside to step through. She has short hair and the tiniest waist Seunghee has ever seen, accentuated by the black, high-waisted lolita-style skirt she’s wearing.

“Yes, hon?”

“Can you get that music box for me? You know the one, the lullaby one.”

The other woman -- Bin-something, Seunghee gathers -- nods and disappears back through the curtain to retrieve it. The one Seunghee spoke to turns back to her and smiles warmly, leaning forward on the counter and resting her head on her hand, long purple nails tapping on her cheek.

“Who’s your friend?” she asks, and Seunghee blinks, confused. “The one who recommended us to you,” she elaborates.

“Oh, Hyojung?”

“Hyojung!” the woman repeats energetically, standing upright again. “How is she? I’ve not seen her in a long while!”

“She’s, um, good,” Seunghee tells her kind of lamely, “We work together. She’s still as cheerful as ever -- god knows how -- and she recently started seeing someone… Yewon, I think?”

“Oh, good for her!”

“Yeah…” Seunghee agrees, rubbing at her arms nervously. 

“And, Yewon did you say? I wonder if that’s the Yewon we knew… they suit each other.” She pauses, and Seunghee stays silent. “We were friends in university, she was my roommate.”

Seunghee nods, hiding a yawn behind her hand. It’s not that she’s bored of course, she’s just. So tired. And this woman is a little too chatty and energetic for her liking at the moment.

“My name is Jiho, by the way.”

Binnie soon arrives back with a wooden box in her hands and Jiho thanks her as she takes it, scanning it and wrapping it up for Seunghee.

“This should work, but if it doesn’t, feel free to come back here and we can try to find you something else. We’ll be happy to give you your money back too, if you don’t get results.”

“Um, thanks.” Seunghee takes the bag with the box in it from atop the counter, gingerly holding it in her hands.

“Turn it on when you’re trying to sleep. I trust you know how music boxes work? The music should help.”

“Thank you,” Seunghee repeats, and tries a small smile. She’s tried music. She doesn’t know how this is any better, but she’ll give it a chance.

“Anytime. All the best.”

Seunghee nods at her again and takes her leave, the bell chiming again on her way out.

When she gets home, she sets the box aside on her nightstand, not opening it yet. She goes about the rest of her evening as normal, electing to ignore it until she heads to bed.

Replacing the harsh main light of her room with the soft, yellow lamplight, she picks up the box again. She flips the latch and lifts the lid, to reveal the actual music box laying inside. It’s pretty and ornate, with a white, circular base on top of which stands a beautiful ballerina, poised in first position. The ballerina is encased by peach petals, closed enough to form plant bud shape but not enough to obscure the little dancer within. Seunghee turns it over in her hands and finds a switch at the back. She flips it and immediately a soft twinkling melody starts to play, and the petals open out, letting the ballerina rise up higher and begin her dance, pirouetting flawlessly. She watches it for a bit, entranced, before placing it back on the bedside table and switching off the lamp. Her eyes already feel heavy and she yawns as she lays back, tugging the blanket over her.

And then before she knows it, she’s asleep, the pretty tune drifting through her ears.

She awakes to golden light streaming in through her curtains. She scrunches her eyes further shut, far too comfortable and sleepy to want to get up, and for a moment she snuggles deeper into her bedding, ready to fall right back asleep but then reality dawns on her and her eyes fly open. She flings her blanket off and checks the time. 

_ Shit. _ She overslept. Work started  _ three whole hours _ ago. 

She curses repeatedly under her breath as she gets out of bed, grabbing her phone from her bedside expecting to see a missed call and an angry email or text or two from the manager. Instead, she sees a few messages from Hyojung, telling her she covered for her, telling her to take the day off and rest. She has half a mind to protest and come in to work even though it’s late, but she knows Hyojung’s right. And she’s not had a good night’s sleep in… forever. The music box actually worked, to Seunghee’s complete and utter surprise.

Before she’s even made up her mind, it seems her body decides for her, falling back into bed and within seconds she has once more succumbed to the warm embrace of slumber. The music box isn’t playing anymore, but she still sleeps soundly for another few hours.

This time, she’s awoken by the sound of clanking dishes in her kitchen and faint humming. It takes her a moment to register the sounds and realise they  _ shouldn’t _ be there, and then she slowly and quietly gets up to investigate. Her eyes land on the music box beside her as she does and her mouth drops open. The petals are open, the platform raised, but inside, there’s no ballerina. She blinks hard and shakes her head, but when she opens them again the ballerina is still missing.

“What,” she mutters to herself, “Just what did Jiho sell me?”

She steps into her slippers and pulls a cardigan on over her loose black pyjama top, hugging it tight around her as she pads into the kitchen, careful to not make any sound. She hangs back out of the way of the doorframe, heart beating fast in her chest. Someone is definitely in there, cooking, the warm smell of pancakes wafting through the air. Slowly, hesitantly, she peers through. Her eyes widen and she instinctively steps forward to see better, to check she’s seeing it right, revealing herself in the doorway. There’s a girl in her kitchen, her back now towards Seunghee, and for the brief moment she’d seen her front, Seunghee was absolutely certain she was the ballerina from the music box. Same, doll-like face, same dancer’s physique, same delicate ballerina’s dress. But she’s… life-size. And cooking. In Seunghee’s kitchen.

“Oh! Hello,” the girl exclaims when she turns around and notices Seunghee standing frozen in the doorway, her voice bright and cheery, a little high-pitched in a cute way. “You’re awake!”

Seunghee doesn’t answer, still too confused, too shocked.

“I trust you slept well?”

“Um.”

“Oh! Forgive me, my name is Shiah. You’re Seunghee right? I made you tea. And breakfast.” She smiles warmly at her, and Seunghee’s heart does something funny. 

The woman, Shiah, is beautiful, poised with all the grace of a ballet dancer but with a cute, bubbly cheerfulness; ethereal as well as adorable.

“Thank you,” Seunghee mumbles, deciding to just accept the situation. It’s very possible she’s still dreaming, or having hallucinations from lack of sleep, anyway.

Almost in a trance, she pads to the table and takes a seat, letting Shiah pile three pancakes onto the plate in front of her. They smell delicious, and Seunghee’s stomach immediately growls, mouth watering at it, so without questioning further, she takes a bite.

Shiah smiles from the side, and pours some rose-coloured tea into two cups, placing one in front of Seunghee and the other opposite. After loading a few pancakes onto her own plate, she takes that seat.

“Good?” Shiah asks, gesturing to the already half-eaten pancakes in Seunghee’s plate.

Nodding, Seunghee hums in affirmation. It honestly feels like it’s the best thing she’s ever tasted. And the tea, strawberry and rose flavoured but with added petals that Shiah must have collected from somewhere, because Seunghee certainly doesn’t have any lying around.

“I’m glad!”

She finishes eating first, feeling as though if she doesn’t it might all fade away, but when she’s finished she just regards the woman opposite her as she gracefully sips at her tea.

“So you’re-- you were the ballerina, right? In the music box?”

“Mhmm.”

“Ho-how?”

“That’s just what I am,” she says simply with a little smile.

“Right.” Seunghee closes her eyes, massaging her temples as she tries to understand. Did Jiho know this? Did she intend for this to happen? She needs to go back and ask her, clear this whole thing up.

“So what else should we do today?” Shiah asks as though this is all normal, as if she belongs here and has been here all along. “You should relax. One good night’s sleep isn’t enough to make up for months of exhaustion.”

“Right,” Seunghee repeats, “Yeah. You choose, I guess.”

Shiah drags her by the hand to her bedroom again, considering the few video games she finds and looking through her small DVD collection. She settles on an animated movie that Seunghee agrees to, and then pushes her onto the tiny couch in the corner of the room, finding Seunghee’s little fleece blanket and throwing it over her before making herself comfortable next to her. Seunghee smiles. It’s all a little weird, and part of her wants to reject it all, but it also feels nice to be taken care of, and to have a day off - one where she actually managed to sleep for once. And Shiah is so beautiful and kind, and Seunghee would be lying if she said her heart didn’t speed up when she leaned against her, head resting on her shoulder.

Come nightfall, by the time Seunghee leaves the bathroom after brushing her teeth, Shiah is no longer in her room where she left her, and upon closer inspection, Seunghee finds her back in the music box as though it was all a dream, made of porcelain and frozen in first position. Seunghee gingerly touches the doll’s face, but nothing happens.

She sighs and climbs into bed, switching the music box on and letting the sweet melody drift her into dreamland.

The alarm clock blares in the morning for work, and as usual, Seunghee groans as she tries to turn it off. She’d slept fine again, but that still didn’t meant she was mentally prepared to go into work so early in the morning. But then when she’s burying her face in her pillow and trying to pretend everything will go away, she feels a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, sweetie, you need to get up!” Shiah’s voice calls softly.

So that wasn’t a dream.

“Mmmm,” Seunghee whines, muffled into the pillow.

Shiah laughs a soft tinkling laugh. “I’ll make you some breakfast, you get ready honey.”

Seunghee roll over and flops onto her back. She turns her head to look at Shiah through squinted eyes. She’s in the same white ballerina dress, red-tinged hair still done up in that pretty updo that she has as the music box doll. 

“‘M up, ‘m up,” she mumbles, closing her eyes again for a moment.

Shiah leans down and pushes her messy hair out of her face, startling Seunghee, but then she disappears to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Eventually, Seunghee hauls herself out of bed to wash up and dress. She still doesn’t have enough time to eat breakfast before she leaves, but Shiah presses a nutella sandwich and a flask of coffee into her hands with one of her sweet smiles before she can fly out the door.

“You went to that shop, didn’t you?” Hyojung says, smiling knowingly when Seunghee walks in.

“Yeah, I did,” Seunghee says, not really feeling the need to make any sarcastic remark. Truthfully, she’s still too awestruck at the beautiful woman that’s now apparently a part of her life to say anything to Hyojung. 

Hyojung places a hand on her shoulder and smiles, genuinely.

“I’m glad it helped. You look better today.”

Seunghee rolls her eyes half-heartedly. “Oh, gee thanks.”

“I’m just saying! You look refreshed.”

Seunghee hums. They get to work as normal then, and Seunghee doesn’t mention Shiah to Hyojung. After work though, she decides to stop at  _ ‘A Touch of Magic’  _ again to see if Jiho has any answers.

She pushes the door open and makes her way straight to the customer’s desk, only briefly looking at some of the items around her.

“Ah, Seunghee wasn’t it?” Jiho greets with a charming smile. “I see the music box helped some.”

“Yes, but, about that…”

“What is it?”

“Well, you see, the ballerina inside? Kind of, became real?”

Jiho hums as she leans over the desk, resting on her elbows and tapping her - dark blue, today - long nails on her chin.

“That is interesting. She must like you, then. I thought she might.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Seunghee blinks.

“Oh, right. Well, she’s a fairy, tied to the music box. That’s her purpose. She sometimes comes out, though, when she wants. Usually for people she takes a liking to.”

Seunghee blinks again, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear subconsciously. “She what.”

Jiho just smiles.

“Are there any issues with this, with her?”

Seunghee finds herself shaking her head automatically.

“That’s good,” Jiho replies happily, “If you need anything else, just let me know, alright? We’ll be happy to help.”

“Um, okay,” Seunghee says, unsure if anything has actually been cleared up. “Thank you.”   


Still, she leaves the shop without questioning further and heads home to Shiah. She’s greeted enthusiastically with a hug that makes her heart pick up just that little bit.

“Hey Shiah,” she greets her back, letting herself rest her face in her hair, a soft cherry scent wafting into her nose from it.

Shiah asks her about her day and then helps her cook dinner later -- like a lover would. It has Seunghee flustered, especially when Shiah hugs her from behind and rests her chin on her shoulder while she cooks.

It only increases as the days go on, but at the same time, Seunghee’s never felt more calm and at home than when she is with Shiah. And it’s not long before Shiah’s naturally affectionate nature results in small kisses to Seunghee’s cheek, forehead, hair, all of them leaving Seunghee giggling and blushing. Every night, though, she turns back into porcelain, lulling her to sleep with the twinkling melody. Seunghee more and more starts to wish she would sleep by Seunghee’s side instead, singing her to sleep with her sweet voice instead.

“Can you stay with me?” she asks one night.

“I’m always with you?” Shiah says, cocking her head.

“No I mean,” Seunghee looks down, twisting her fingers. “Stay  _ here, _ come to bed with me.”

Shiah smiles sadly. “I can’t.”

“Oh.”

Shiah leans down to pull Seunghee into a hug, and kisses the top of her head.

“Good night, love.”

She pulls back, and with a faint glow, she dissolves into specs of light, pouring into the music box and reforming into the doll in a spiral. With a sigh, Seunghee strokes her porcelain hair when she’s fully formed.

On the weekend, she brings Shiah with her to Jiho’s shop, in the hopes of finding a way to keep Shiah in human form permanently. She’d talked about it more with Shiah, and the ballerina had confessed that she too would like to stay in this form with Seunghee, so they had decided to come here. Jiho frowns in thought when they explain their situation, looking between the two of them.

“I think Yoobin might be able to do something, her magic is much stronger than mine, for this kind of thing. She’ll at least know more than I do. I’ll go get her.”

She disappears through the beaded curtain, shortly returning with the other woman Seunghee had seen here the first time. Today she’s wearing a red dress with a black corset around the middle hugging her thin waist. The sleeves hang off her shoulders, and a there’s a lacy black bow in her hair.

“I think it’s possible,” she tells them. “I’ll need to sever the tie between Shiah and the music box, but you still want the box to play, right?”

“Um,” Seunghee feels herself flushing a little as she glances at Shiah, “Would Shiah herself not… basically do the same job?”

“Hm,” Yoobin thinks for a moment, “I guess it was her magic that made the box work… I guess that makes it easier then, I won’t have to figure out a way to keep the magic tied to it.”

“So you could do it?” Shiah asks hopefully, putting her arm around Seunghee and squeezing her hip.

Yoobin hums. “Leave it with me, I’ll figure out a spell.”

“Thank you so much!”

“I really hope we can help,” Jiho says, “You two seem happy. I’m happy for you.”

Seunghee ducks her head, while Shiah beams. She leaves her number with Jiho so they can call when Yoobin has figured out something, and then thank the two shop owners again before heading back home.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Seunghee asks Shiah, biting her lip.

“Of course!”

“But… how come you’ve never wanted to before… you must have been someone else’s before, right?”

Shiah smiles, and like it’s the most natural thing in the world, says, “None of them were you.”

“O-oh.”

Shiah laughs. She twirls suddenly, her peach-pink dress billowing out around her, and when she faces Seunghee again, she offers her her hand.

“I don’t-- dance.”

“Aw, come on!” 

Shiah widens her bambi eyes even more, and Seunghee gives in. She lets Shiah spin her, dancing around the room, and eventually starts to laugh along with her.

“Seunghee,” Shiah says.

She slows to a stop, almost flush against Seunghee’s chest, one hand entwined with hers and the other on her waist. Seunghee holds her breath, blinking up at her as she waits.

“Seunghee,” Shiah repeats, leaning in close.

Shiah has kissed her many times, but this is the first one on the lips, the first one this soft, the first one this intimate.

About a week later they get a call from Yoobin. They go to the shop, a little apprehensive, but Seunghee reasons that it doesn’t matter either way, as long as she still has Shiah for the days. It would be nice to not sleep alone for once, but it’s not the worst.

Shiah kisses her temple, before following Yoobin past the curtain of beads.

“Did it work?” Seunghee asks tentatively when they emerge again a few minutes later, the music box split in two in the witch’s hands.   


“You’ll need to wait until night to see,” Yoobin laughs. “But hopefully.”

“Are you okay?”

Shiah nods. “I’m fine.”

She sounds a little faint, though. Seunghee quickly goes up to her and wraps her arms around her.

“I can’t wait to spend the night with you,” Shiah whispers, leaning her head on Seunghee’s.

Come nightfall, Seunghee holds Shiah’s hands, and she doesn’t dissolve between her fingertips.

“Shya!” she exclaims happily. “It worked!”

Shiah kisses her as a reply, giggling into her mouth. 

Their first night together is nice, though maybe she doesn’t fall asleep as quickly as she has been these past weeks, with Shiah wrapped around her, making her heart beat all too fast. But Shiah softly hums, and when she does fall asleep, it’s deep and restful -- even more so than when it was just the music box, feeling safe and warm in Shiah’s arms.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! please leave comments ;-; ily <3
> 
> come say hi on twitter [@fairynkk](https://twitter.com/fairynkk) or cc [@ghostlyfae](https://curiouscat.me/ghostlyfae)


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